Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Trump begins with action on Obamacare, regulation freeze and confirmations

President Donald Trump signed his first executive order as president, ordering federal agencies to ease the burden of President Barack Obama's sweeping health care law. Retired Gen. James Mattis took the oath of office to be defense secretary. (Jan. 20)

WASHINGTON — President Trump spent the evening of his first day in office ordering all federal departments and agencies to find ways to ease the economic burden of President Obama's health care plan as Congress works to repeal and replace it.

"Thank you, it's a great day," Trump said after the signings in the Oval Office, before leaving for a set of inaugural balls.

The first-day executive actions served to signal a marked departure from the policies of the Obama administration but provided little indication of the direction Trump would chart.

The executive order, titled "Minimizing The Economic Burden Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal," directed the administration to show maximum flexibility in applying the law to states, hospitals, health insurers, patients and, notably, medical device manufacturers.

But the order was couched in language like "to the maximum extent permitted by law," leaving the particulars to legal interpretation.

The regulatory freeze memo was almost word-for-word identical to a similar memo sent by President Barack Obama's chief of staff on the first day of his presidency. And that one, in turn, was based on previous memos by Presidents George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. It ordered all agencies to hold off on publishing any regulation until Trump's Cabinet members are confirmed and can sign off on them. The White House may make exceptions for "health, safety, financial, or national security matters."

Trump made no specific policy proposals during his inaugural address. So for most of the day, something as basic as the content of the White House website became an important signal to interest groups about what issues would take priority in the Trump administration.

Shortly after Trump took the oath of office, the government switched over the White House website from Obama’s to Trump’s. (Obama’s is now frozen in time, archived by the National Archives and Records Administration under the Presidential Records Act.) The Twitter accounts @POTUS and @FLOTUS now belong to Trump and first lady Melania Trump, although the Obamas seem to have taken all of their followers to @POTUS44 and @FLOTUS44.

Policy proposals on Trump's revamped website ranged from increased cyber warfare capabilities to changing the terms of trade deals with other nations, issues the New York businessman discussed on the campaign trail.

Also notable: There are pages on the website for the release of White House visitor’s logs, ethics pledge waivers, financial disclosures and staff salaries, suggesting that some Obama-era transparency initiatives may remain in place.

"For too long, we’ve been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry. President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule," reads the top issue brief on the new president's White House website.

While the top issues on the Obama website were “Civil Rights,” “Climate Change,” “Economy” and “Education,” Trump’s site features different issues with more Trump-themed names: “America First Energy Plan,” “America First Foreign Policy,” “Bringing Back Jobs and Growth” and “Making Our Military Strong Again.”

Various organizations expressed concern that, in wiping the Obama White House website nearly clean, the Trump team eliminated sections devoted to such issues as climate change, gay rights and civil rights in general.

"The Department of Labor’s crucial report on worker rights has also disappeared,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “If President Trump truly believes in uniting the country, now is the time to make clear whether he will be an ally to the LGBTQ community in our struggle for full equality."

After the inauguration ceremony, Trump went inside the U.S. Capitol, chatted with lawmakers and signed documents that included formal nominations of Cabinet members and a waiver that allows Mattis to become secretary of Defense. The new president also signed a proclamation declaring a "national day of patriotism," said the new press secretary, Sean Spicer.

Trump later issued his first formal statement as president, thanking the Senate for confirming Mattis and Kelly, and added: "I call on members of the Senate to fulfill their constitutional obligation and swiftly confirm the remainder of my highly qualified cabinet nominees, so that we can get to work on behalf of the American people without further delay.”

Trump also resumed tweeting within an hour of his swearing-in.

"We will bring back our jobs," he said during a post-inaugural tweet storm. "We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth — and we will bring back our dreams!"

The new administration's first executive action, within an hour of Trump's inaugural address, involved canceling Obama-backed cuts in mortgage premiums. The Obama policy would have saved home buyers hundreds of dollars a year in mortgage fees on government-backed mortgages, but Republicans in Congress have expressed concern that the cuts to premiums could leave the mortgage insurance fund without sufficient reserves.

Civil rights groups also criticized an opening move of the Department of Justice.

Within hours of Trump’s inauguration, the DOJ asked a federal district court in Texas to delay a hearing scheduled for next Tuesday on whether the state’s voter ID law was enacted with a discriminatory purpose.

Civil rights groups opposed to the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions as Trump’s attorney general have warned that the new administration could reverse Obama’s measures on key voting rights issues and viewed the 30-day delay request as an early example.

“Only hours after inauguration and we are already seeing signs that this new administration intends to delay important litigation or shift its position in critical cases,” said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “This is not a good sign of things to come.”

After an inaugural address saying that "the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer," Trump had lunch with members of Congress and led the inaugural parade to his new home at the White House.

Throughout the day, Trump staff members began trickling into the West Wing, looking for their offices and trying to figure out how the phones and computers work. They included aides who bolstered Trump's remarkable run to the presidency: advisers Steve Bannon, Hope Hicks, and Kellyanne Conway, as well as Spicer.